Rep. Tony Ligi thinks graffiti leaves a mark on people's psyches as well as on buildings and other property, and that's why he wants to get tough on taggers.

"It has a psychological impact . . . when you spend a year getting your life back together and some clown comes in and does this," he said.

Anyone who has been forced to paint over someone else's scrawls would probably agree with that sentiment. But that doesn't mean they'd agree with a law that could send someone away for a decade for defacing property, as House Bill 163 would do. Rep. Ligi's proposed solution is so excessive it borders on the ridiculous.

Graffiti is already illegal; it's covered under the general criminal mischief law, which sets a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $500 fine. But this bill would create a new crime, "criminal damage to property by defacing with graffiti," and set a series of escalating penalties.

The bill links the punishment to the amount of damage done. If it's less than $500, the penalties set under the present law would still apply. But if the damage is more than $500 but less than $50,000, a judge could send the tagger to jail for up to two years and assess a $1,000 fine. And if the damage is $50,000 or more, the maximum penalty is 1 to 10 years in jail and a $10,000 fine.

It's hard to imagine that there would be many cases where a tagger could do $50,000 in damage. But the maximum penalty isn't the only thing that's unreasonable about this law. This proposal could result in someone getting sent to jail for two years for $501 in damage.

The existing penalties already provide six months of jail time. That seems more in line with the crime and ought to be a sufficient deterrent.

Rep. Ligi's bill does contain some sensible ideas that might be worth considering: it would allow a judge to order offenders to clean up their graffiti, repair or replace what they've damaged or pay restitution.

The freshman lawmaker should drop the draconian penalties and craft a bill that allows judges to make taggers clean up the mess they've made.